Country Spotlight - Bolivia

4 May 2011

WFP is helping this land-locked South American country reduce child malnutrition, improve enrollment, attendance and capacity to concentrate and learn amongst school children, and enhancing the country's emergency preparedness and response capacity.

Bolivia is a landlocked country in South America sharing borders with Argentina, Brazil, Chile, Paraguay and Peru. Bolivia is one of the poorest countries in Latin America with two thirds of the population living below the poverty line, 80% of whom live in rural areas. The majority of Bolivians are rural and indigenous, depending heavily on subsistence agriculture. Due to unpredictable seasons causing poor harvests and frequent natural disasters agriculture is an unreliable source of income.

Access to food is the main cause of food insecurity in Bolivia. More than 40% of the total population, and up to 59% in rural areas, have insufficient funds to meet basic food needs. However, working with the government of Bolivia through the Zero Malnutrition Programme WFP is has 3 main components that will be implemented to support gradual handover activities and strengthen food security in the country.

The first component is an integrated programme for children ages 2 to 5. This programme aims to improve the nutritional status of children ages 2 to 5 attending nurseries in rural areas through on-site food aid. The food provided by WFP will be complemented with fresh foods provided by the municipalities.

The second component gives support to the National School Feeding programme which aims to allow more than 80,000 school-age children ages 6 to 14 in the 52 most food-insecure municipalities to attend school continuously and improve their ability to concentrate and learn through alleviating short-term hunger.

The third component aims at strengthen emergency preparedness and response capacities. This will be achieved through enhancing the capacity in risk management in national, regional and local institutions, focusing on preparedness and response to reduce the impact of natural disasters on livelihoods, especially for the rural poor, and contribute to a long-term solution to malnutrition.

For people like Carmen Florida, this third component is having a direct impact on the lives of Bolivians affected by the recent severe flooding. Click here to read Carmen’s story and see how WFP is helping her family recover.

Hunger can be eliminated in our lifetimes

This requires comprehensive efforts to ensure that every man, woman and child enjoy their Right to Adequate Food; women are empowered; priority is given to family farming; and food systems everywhere are sustainable and resilient.